sat suite question viewer
The ancient Greek concept of “mimesis,” a term used in the works of Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek philosophers in discussions of representational art—visual, performance, or literary art that aims to depict the real world—is a foundational concept of the Western philosophy of aesthetics. Mimesis is typically translated as “imitation” in modern editions of ancient Greek texts, but scholar Stephen Halliwell warns that this is overly reductive: “imitation” implies that art merely copies—and is thus by definition entirely derivative of—a reality that exists outside and prior to the work of art, and translating “mimesis” thusly obscures the multifaceted ways in which the ancient Greeks understood the relationship between art and reality.
Which statement, if true, would most directly support the claim by Halliwell presented in the text?
Explanation
Choice D is the best answer because it presents a statement that would support Halliwell’s claim that "imitation" is an overly simplified translation of the word "mimesis" in the context of ancient Greek philosophical discussions of representational art and that, because it suggests a view of art as merely copying things that exist in reality, the translation obscures the fact that Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient Greeks understood the relationship between art and reality in varied ways. If Plato’s works tend to treat representational art as an inferior or inadequate reflection of the physical world (consistent with the idea of mere imitation), while Aristotle’s works suggest that the term "mimesis" can refer to art’s ability to show conditions that don’t currently exist but could exist (going beyond imitation into novel creation), that evidence would support the claim that the term "mimesis" means more than just "imitation" and that ancient Greek philosophers held different views of the relationship between art and reality.
Choice A is incorrect because information about the root word mimos first being used in drama and the root mim- coming to be associated with music and poetry wouldn’t indicate anything about the meaning of the specific term "mimesis" as it was used by ancient Greek philosophers in discussions of representational art; thus, the information would have no bearing on Halliwell’s claim that a common translation of the specific term is an oversimplification. Choice B is incorrect because the issue of art’s psychological effects on audiences gets at how people respond to works of art instead of how art itself is related to reality, so the idea that Plato and Aristotle both addressed such effects in their considerations of mimesis wouldn’t have any bearing on Halliwell’s claim that a common translation of that term oversimplifies the relationship between art and reality. Further, this idea would touch on one general similarity in approaches to mimesis instead of illustrating the multifaceted, or varied, ways Halliwell claims ancient Greek philosophers understood art’s relation to reality. Choice C is incorrect because the idea that Plato discussed aesthetics in his early works but didn’t use the term "mimesis" until later doesn’t give any indication of how Plato or any other ancient Greek philosophers understood the relation between art and reality, so it would have no bearing on Halliwell’s claim that a common translation of the term "mimesis" is oversimplified and fails to reflect the varied ways the philosophers understood that relationship.